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Anna

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The Sentence

by Louise Erdrich

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(page 167 of 387)
"been on a real run of books i knew i would enjoy lately" — Jun 11, 2026 08:35AM

Jun 11, 2026 08:35AM

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The Goldfinch

by Donna Tartt

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Reading for the 2nd time

read in June 2022

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Anna said: " 3.5 stars rounded up to 4

I read almost 800 pages of this so it is getting a full length review. There were a lot of things that I liked about this book. Unfortunately, they pretty much all happened in the first 450 pages. I felt the book was at its m 3.5 stars rounded up to 4

I read almost 800 pages of this so it is getting a full length review. There were a lot of things that I liked about this book. Unfortunately, they pretty much all happened in the first 450 pages. I felt the book was at its most successful when it was describing Theo's interactions and relationships with other people. The early sections are great for this reason; only a few things actually happen but the plot is not the most interesting part, the characters are. Theo is not a very interesting (or likable) character for me on his own, but when paired with Pippa, Boris, Hobie, Mrs. Barbour, or Kitsey, (honestly you could put almost any character here) he becomes more interesting. And partly that's due to the fact that the supporting cast rocks!! Even characters like Xandra and Theo's dad, who I disliked immensely, were well-written to be awful, and I think Donna Tartt does a really good job of establishing interpersonal relationships between characters. After the timeskip, the book started to hone more in on the plot, specifically the art theft and the artistic underworld, and less on character. This did not really do it for me, mostly because of the style that the book was written in!

I also maintain that Donna Tartt needs a better editor. Her prose is gorgeous, but there is way too much of it in this book and, once again, in sections where she's leading with character it didn't irk me too much but in the sections I didn't enjoy (because they were about the plot) it is EXHAUSTING to read pages on pages of description of Amsterdam at Christmas, or Theo being drugged up beyond belief. I also knew there would be a lot about drugs in this book (I read it 2 years ago so this was a reread) but after a certain point it simply loses its effect because of the amount that it is mentioned. Perhaps that is the point, but it just irritated me. This is also a personal annoyance, but if I ever see the word 'bailiwick' again, it'll be too soon.

This is an arbitrary comparison, but I debated the rating on this compared to The Secret History, because they are both books that I did enjoy. Overall, I think I enjoyed The Secret History more as a complete novel, but the sections of The Goldfinch that I actually liked (early NYC, Las Vegas, some of the bits with Theo and the Barbour family post-timeskip) I liked more than the whole of The Secret History. I also cannot read another dark academia novel without comparing it to The Secret History, and thinking about how The Secret History did it better -- it is genre-defining for me. Originally (for the first half) The Goldfinch was a 5 star novel, and I even considered bringing the rating of TSH down because I didn't think they were on the same level. And I still don't! The first half of The Goldfinch versus TSH is not a contest, but The Goldfinch as a whole versus TSH is also not a contest for different reasons. The last ~250 pages of The Goldfinch were very difficult to get through for me, and thus brought the rating down. There was also the issue of the plot resolving itself about 50 pages from the end and then there still being the extra 50 pages. It was really bewildering what she chose to resolve fully and what she chose to leave for the 10 page reflection at the end.

Despite all of the things I mentioned, I really did enjoy the first half of this book immensely! I think if you have the stamina to read a chunky novel that deals with some unpleasant topics and some very interesting relationships in some very descriptive prose, this is the book for you. ...more "

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(page 699 of 771)
"The plot is essentially resolved and somehow we are still going" — Jun 28, 2022 04:15PM

Jun 28, 2022 09:38PM · see review